12/21/24
January 18, 2021
Brees May Retire After Throwing Away NFL Divisional Round Game: The Bills, Packers, Chiefs and Buccaneers advanced to conference championship games. Patrick Mahomes left with a concussion but the Browns weren't able to catch Kansas City. Drew Brees is expected to retire after 20 seasons, disappointingly on a low note after throwing three interceptions in a 30-20 loss to a Bucs team lead by fellow quadragenarian Tom Brady.
I stumbled upon a fluff article on my phone that said that Aaron Rodgers claims his head is in a much better place since breaking up with Danica Patrick.
Meanwhile, in commenting on her personal life, Patrick said that "the next guy has his work cut out for him".
These are the kinds of details that astute people in Vegas are hopefully taking into account.
posted by beaverboard at 11:49 AM on January 18, 2021
I was pretty amazed that the Ravens opened up with something like 17 runs and one pass on their first 18 offensive plays. No matter how good your run game is I don't see how that wins a playoff game.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:22 AM on January 19, 2021
Perhaps this is just as well, as the Saints have historically looked awful playing in northern stadiums during the playoffs. They woefully underachieved at Soldier Field at least twice, allowing stiffs like Rex Grossman to go to a Super Bowl.
So New Orleans fans were perhaps spared another heartache with the Saints not advancing to a game in Green Bay. Not that the Bucs are necessarily a surer bet to prevail.
It would have been fun to see a Browns - Bills conference title game. There would be such a compelling narrative for either team advancing out of that matchup.
Hopefully Mahomes will be able to play against the Bills. Everyone would be shortchanged if he's not able to go.
I haven't checked to see if there are discussions questioning how far the Ravens can realistically expect to go in the postseason with Lamar Jackson. But having such a discussion would be reasonable. The team needs to be able to win without counting on him to make freaky plays in the passing game that defenses could never anticipate. When they need him to move the chains with his arm and he's not able to do so, they are in trouble.
A fun twist would be for the Ravens to sign Jameis so he could come in and make throws like he did yesterday against the Bucs. He has a more competent vertical game than Lamar does, picks and all.
That's the kind of throw that Arians should be asking Brady to make, instead of those low percentage longer bombs.